That’s a fascinating glimpse of country life perhaps 100 years ago. You’ve cleverly chosen to tell it through the voice of a very old woman, and slowly reveal that she has a personal stake in the memory of Dan Grimes. She hints at his potential for domestic violence, but gives away the fact that she’s an unreliable witness because Dan rejected her. What a great way to give your history depth!

I loved how history of his life is summed up, “drank ale, married Bess, and died” (I assume it was over a period of time and not immediately after the wedding. I wonder if ‘she’ thought he had married the wrong un and was the reason for his bad behaviour.
A great story, in so few words, that makes thoughts tumble through my mind.

The casual but brilliant reference to the name he chose for his scythe tells us more than a thousand word description of the man. Seems he deteriorated as he got older but she got the best of him, when her world was young.

You can hear the love in her (or his) voice, the valuing of character traits, that people do without, these days, because they’re spoiled.I love the “scythe he called Excalibur.” So much reminiscing on a harsher time, this week, with stories to instruct the young, who, unlike their elders, have never wallked a mile barefoot in the snow, just to get to school.:)

Mmmmm … I thought I had added a comment here before, Neil.
I don’t see it. Perhaps, the mirror has captured it. I know I added
that I loved Penny’s comment and being late to comment left little
for me to add … BUT … BRAVO hasn’t been said.
Isadora 😎

Great story, Neil. I like that she isn’t bitter that he didn’t marry her and has only good things to say about him. She’s his strongest defender when he is criticized. It’s endearing how she keeps his memory alive.